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Cross-examining the witness Jon Swain, who is defending Eldridge, said: “Lets theorise that it was a student on their second day at the school, with no friends and feeling upset going to visit their teacher, who had an open door policy, and the child had hopped up on her teacher’s lap.”

The witness replied that safeguarding policy is about minimal contact with the children, for both the child’s and the adult’s protecting.

Mr Swain added: “What about the human touch? We are not machines. Sadly it has come to this.”

The witness also told the court about earlier incidents involving Eldridge when he would have female pupils alone in his classroom at lunchtime.

She said: “When I was working in first aid, I was in Key Stage 1, and I would see children frequently go back to Mr Eldridge’s classroom during lunch time. He was alone without another member of staff.

Eldridge is accused of two counts of sexual assault against a child (Image: Alison Jenkins)

“I would see children, sometimes one child or several children. It was always girls.

“Some were reception age, some would be his former class pupils so up to Year Two.”

Mr Swain said: “He was a very popular teacher with the students wasn’t he? He was very popular with the parents as well. Did you resent him because of his popularity?”

“I recall Mr Eldridge taking pictures of the children at the end of a school trip when the children were playing, coming down the slide,” the witness said.

The court heard that Eldridge would bring his own personal camera to school, despite there being school cameras, and that he would take pictures - although the jurors were told he did have permission to bring it in.

Eldridge was warned about not putting himself in a “vulnerable” position in regards to the pantomime incident by the then head teacher.

Police officers found two indecent images of children downloaded from the internet on Eldridge's computer (Image: Alison Jenkins)

Speaking to the court, he said: “In my view it was the actions of a teacher at the beginning of his career, who had perhaps done something not quite right. I gave him the benefit of the doubt and advice from my years of experience.

“His (Eldridge) response was non-committal, he did not argue with me.”

In a question from the jurors, the witness was asked if parents were made aware that Eldridge was using his own personal camera in school, to which he responded “no”.

The court also heard that a student in Eldridge’s class had been “bit by a snake” that had been brought to the classroom.